Interviews

1. Family’s Japanese roots and values

2. The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

3. Her desire to help at-risk and dependent youth

4. Her motto came from her mother

5. Unique perspective that a judge can bring to community organizations

6. How she transitioned from anthropology to law

7. Mother founded Japanese language school in neighbors’ backyard

Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

Unique perspective that a judge can bring to community organizations

I think being an attorney, or being a judge, in any organization, you can bring a perspective, an analysis that can help that organization.

By being a judge I was on the Torrance Symphony Board, because I really wanted to preserve music education in the schools. And by having the perspective I have, I can’t raise money, but I can come up with ideas of ways to have things happen.

On the Biomedical Research Institute Board, by being a judge, I brought a completely different perspective into this board that had some community members, but predominantly of doctors. And I think they realized the value of having someone with a legal background, because they expanded the board to include other attorneys and other judges since my term was up.

I think that we can bring our background to help organizations that we wish to — that are not in the legal field with — we can’t give legal advice, but we can guide them into thinking about areas that they never thought of in terms of their growth, their expansion, their mission statements, their goals.

communities judges nonprofit organizations

Date: July 27, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Kiya Matsuno

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

Interviewee Bio

Judge Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman is a Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. She was born in Torrance, California and grew up in Harbor City, California. She was the first Asian American female hired by the US Attorney’s office in the Civil Division, the first minority elected official in the Torrance School Board, and the first judge to ever serve on the LA Biomedical Research Institute. She currently serves in the Los Padrinos Courthouse as the site judge. She grew up in a diverse and welcoming neighborhood and felt secure in being Japanese American. She is involved with the Japanese American community, works to promote diversity, and she mentors lawyers and judges. (June 2018)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.